"I'm sorry, Your Majesty Marshal, we have not reached a purchase agreement with the special envoy of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands." General Mantvedt, the director of the equipment department, and General Conde Walker, the director of the military and political department, stood in front of Claude and reported to him Got this bad news.
General Conde Walker, director of the Ministry of Military Affairs, added: "We tried to get the special envoy to purchase second-generation ironclad warships, but he refused. Even though we told him that if he purchased second-generation warships, the delivery date would be advanced. After a year, he still rejected our proposal after thinking about it and insisted on purchasing all the first-generation iron-clad warships... "
"From his personal officers, the Naval Intelligence Department learned such news. This time the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands sent a special envoy to purchase forty-eight ironclad warships. It was a special transfer of funds. This amount of money was allocated and was not given to The special envoy's additional funds allowed him to purchase several second-generation iron-clad warships to test their combat differences and effects compared to the first-generation iron-clad warships.
And the most important point is that all the armored warships produced by our Dominion Shipbuilding Workshop do not contain artillery devices, leaving only the turret position on the deck. Therefore, in the eyes of this special envoy, these purchased armored warships have to be equipped with their own artillery, which will have no effect on the enemy's armored warships, so it does not matter whether they are first-generation or second-generation armored warships. "
The head of the Equipment Department, General Mantwai, found out some inside information about the procurement envoy from the United Kingdom of Fox Islands through the Naval Intelligence Agency, because even the large and heavy naval guns developed by the Dominion Military Region on the first and second generation ironclad warships could not be used. It is impossible to achieve the record of sinking another armored warship with more than ten shells, even if the target is a first-generation armored warship.
Only the third-generation iron-clad warships developed by the Dominion Military Region have been replaced with new naval guns and armor-piercing projectiles, which poses a fatal threat to the first and second-generation iron-clad warships. Now, the Dominion Military Region has established several shipbuilding base workshops in Vibato Port. All the first- and second-generation iron-clad warships produced and built do not include naval guns. After the construction is completed, the purchasers will drag them back and install the guns themselves.
They are all large or heavy bronze cannons mounted on sail warships that are loaded with black powder and fire solid projectiles. They do not pose much of a threat to the first and second generation ironclad warships. No wonder the procurement envoy of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands insists on a first-generation iron-clad battleship. Until it is impossible to ensure that these armored battleships can be sunk with existing artillery, there is really no difference between the first and second generations of iron-clad battleships. Even if the speed, agility, and resistance performance are higher, it will be useless. Doubling the price is the most uneconomical deal...
"So this procurement envoy insists on a generation of iron-armored warships, and the several major workshops we have set up at the Vibato Port Shipbuilding Base are already filled with orders for warships from the Kingdom of Carmanlane and the Principality of Leliolo. In the future, We won’t be able to receive any more orders for new armored warships during this year, right?” Claude raised his head: “Didn’t it mean that Vibato Port is still expanding its shipyards and building new docks?”
General Kondwok, director of the Ministry of Military Affairs, replied: "The shipbuilding base in Vibato Port does have an expansion plan. It is planned to add four shipbuilding workshops and build eight new docks within six months. But this expansion plan will not be available until at least April next year. It will take a lot of time to complete and install various auxiliary shipbuilding engineering machinery. It will be very good to be put into use before June in the first half of next year.
The order placed by the procurement envoy of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands was very large, and it was a pity to reject it. It's just that they insist on only having first-generation iron-clad battleships and not second-generation iron-clad battleships. Otherwise, we can renovate the current second-generation iron-clad battleships and deliver them to them. That would only require modification and renovation at the Patres Military Port Shipbuilding Base.
The current problem is that the Vibato Port cannot meet the construction deadline, and the Patres Military Port Shipbuilding Base refuses to undertake obsolete goods such as the first-generation armored warships. Their workshops and shipyards have also accumulated orders for new ships. . If we are to accept this large order for armored battleships from the United Kingdom of Fox Islands, construction will have to start in the second half of next year at the earliest.
This is the reason why we were unable to reach an agreement with the procurement envoys of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands. They asked us to immediately start building the ironclad warships we ordered and deliver the first batch of twelve ironclad warships six months later. We were unable to fulfill this request. . No matter what, there is a first-come-first-served basis. We must first complete the warship orders for the Kingdom of Carmenline and the Principality of Leliolo. "
"In this case, there is no need to drag it out. Let's just reject this order from the United Kingdom of Fox Islands. We don't have to compromise for forty-eight first-generation iron-clad battleships." Claude made a decision, then stood up. He walked to the wall, looked at the map of the colonies on the west coast hanging on the wall, shook his head and laughed.
"I really don't know what the United Kingdom of Fox Islands will do next." Claude pointed to the only two colonies of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands on the map: "Without iron-clad battleships, these two colonies are very likely to We will not be able to keep it. When the orders for armored warships placed by the Kingdom of Carmenline and the Principality of Leriolo are completed, then the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands will have to worry about being blocked on the Fox Islands and will not be able to take care of the remaining two countries on the west coast. a colony.
The Mount Guards Harbor Colony may be able to be saved. It is already the only colony at the extreme northern end of the west coast. Further north is the Gobi wasteland with no vegetation. It is also separated from the colony of the Federo Principality by nearly a hundred miles of desert hills. The relationship between the two countries has always been good. If other countries do not intervene, this colony should be able to be saved. However, the Mount Guards Seaport Colony has rich mineral resources and an excellent deep-water seaport. In the eyes of other colonial countries, it is also a big piece of fat, but I don’t know who will get the advantage in the end.
In addition to the Wedes Mountain Seaport Colony, the only thing left in the Fox Islands United Kingdom is the Lupusel Port Colony next to the Opsaro City-State Alliance. Fortunately, it was sandwiched between the Opsaro City-State Alliance and the colony of the Principality of Federo, unlike the neighboring colony of the Principality of Leriolo in the middle, which was directly and forcibly occupied by the colonial authorities of the Principality of Leriolo. However, the Purcell Port colony is now also facing the danger of being annexed by the Opsaro City-State Alliance. Once the Fox Islands United Kingdom loses another battle at sea... "
The United Kingdom of Fox Islands originally had four colonies on the west coast. The smallest colony, Rodex Bay Colony, has been given to the Overseas Dominion. The remaining three are distributed at the northern end, middle and south of the west coast. The northernmost one is the Mount Guards Seaport Colony, which is mountainous and hilly and has rich mineral resources. It is a military industrial base that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands plans to use for the construction and production of ironclad warships.
The central part is a colony in the plains, and it is also the colony with the most abundant agricultural products. However, it has been occupied by troops from the colonial authorities of the Principality of Leriolo, and this colony is gone. The colony in the south called Lupusel Port is not far from the Pamigal National Republic. The two are only separated by the Vasiliko Principality Colony and the Opsaro City-State Alliance Colony.
The colony of the Principality of Vasiliko is half-broken, but the Opsaro City-State Alliance is very happy. In front of it is the colony abandoned by the Principality of Vasiliko, and behind it is the colony of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands whose land defense force is weak. As long as the Lower Vasiliko Principality Colony and the Lupusel Port Colony are annexed, the Opsaro City-State Alliance's colonies on the west coast can almost triple. Only out of respect for the maritime power of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands, the colonial authorities of the Opsaro City-State Alliance have not taken action...
Without negotiating a production order for ironclad battleships with the Dominion Military Region, the procurement envoy from the United Kingdom of Fox Islands instead placed an order for sixty first-generation marine steam power machinery and propeller spindle configurations with the Dominion's First Commercial Power Machinery Workshop, with a total value of Three million gold crowns is equivalent to a ship's steam power machinery and propeller main shaft configuration of fifty thousand gold crowns. After approval by the Dominion Military Region, the order was completed and the transaction was completed within three months.
The Department of Naval Intelligence believes that the so-called purchase of iron-clad warships by the United Kingdom of Fox Islands is actually a cover. The real purpose is to purchase these marine steam power machinery and propeller spindle configurations from the Dominion Military Region. This probably means that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands develops and produces its own iron-clad battleships or imitates the Black Sail Pirates, covering the sail-powered battleships with copper or iron armor, and then retrofitting them with marine steam-powered machinery and propellers.
A month later, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands sent a sailing battleship squadron to welcome six ocean-going armed transport ships carrying twenty marine steam-powered machinery and propeller spindle configurations back to the Fox Islands off the southern coast of the Farea continent. . But what they didn't expect was to be ambushed and attacked by the combined maritime fleets of the Kingdom of Carmenline and the Principality of Leriolo in the waters three hundred miles away from the Fox Islands...
The Kingdom of Kamanlane dispatched two cruise combat units, that is, twelve armored battleships, minus two armored armed transport ships loaded with black stone coal. What actually went into battle were two first-generation armored cruisers and eight first-generation armored battleships. Destroyers, that is, ten armored battleships. The Principality of Leriolo has not yet received the first batch of customized iron-clad warships, and has only dispatched twelve ocean-going fast three-masted sail cruising warships.
The United Kingdom of the Fox Islands is a squadron of the sailing fleet, consisting of eighteen third-class sailing battleships, that is, five-masted and three-tiered artillery. There are forty-eight main battleships with heavy guns in the front on each side of the battleship and six armed ocean transport ships. , there are also four ocean-going fast three-masted sailing cruising warships, a total of twenty-eight sailing warships, against the ten iron-armored warships and twelve ocean-going fast cruising warships of the combined maritime fleets of the Kingdom of Carmenline and the Principality of Leriolo... . ...
The result of this naval battle was another major defeat for the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands. If the rescue fleet had not arrived quickly, these twenty-eight sail warships might have sunk to the bottom of the sea. Judging from the firepower possessed by the fleet, the sailing squadron of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands has a comprehensive advantage.
However, the ten armored warships of the Kingdom of Kamanlane did not mainly attack the sailing warships during sea battles. Instead, they used their maneuverability to chase the tail of the sailing warships, ejecting white phosphorus bombs and destroying the rear cabin of the rudder, making the sailing warships possess Its firepower advantage cannot be used at all, or it can be said to be useless and can only become a target at sea...
Only three of the twenty marine steam-powered mechanical devices and propeller spindle configurations carried by the six ocean-going armed transport ships were left. Only one ocean-going armed transport ship survived until rescue arrived. The remaining five ocean-going armed transport ships were all sunk, and the seventeen power units and propeller spindle configurations they carried were all destroyed on the bottom of the sea. This huge loss caused the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands to once again send special envoys to the overseas autonomous territories. This time they waved bank drafts and requested the purchase of twelve second-generation ironclad warships, which were completed and delivered six months later...
The second-generation iron-clad warships are twice as expensive as the first-generation iron-clad warships. The total price of twelve second-generation iron-clad warships is 3.6 million gold crowns. With a smile on his face, General Murield allocated twelve active second-generation iron-clad warships from the fleet and delivered them to the naval port shipbuilding base for renovation and transformation, preparing to deliver them to the United Kingdom of Fox Islands in half a year. Here, an order for twelve brand new fourth-generation ironclad battleships was placed with Master Bird's Ship Design Center...
When the combined maritime fleets of the Kingdom of Carmanlane and the Principality of Leriolo ambushed the sailing battleship squadron of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands, and the news of their great victory spread to the west coast, the Opsaro City-State Alliance finally launched a joint attack on the neighboring Fox Islands. The Kingdom's Port Purcell Colony was launched. The Opsaro City-State Alliance sent a legion to occupy the Lupusel Port Colony, and also obtained three ocean-going ships to send colonial authorities officials and family members of the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands on board and send them out of the country as gifts.
As for the Mount Guards Harbor Colony at the northernmost point of the west coast, it became the only remaining colony of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands on the west coast. In order to preserve this colony, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands specifically asked the Principality of Federo, which had a good relationship with it, to send troops to guard the Desshan Harbor Colony. It was only when the Principality of Federo hesitated again and again and finally decided to send a local garrison force to take a look, that they discovered that the Mount Weders Harbor Colony had been quietly occupied by the Black Sail Pirates.
The only thing to blame is that the Mount Wedes Seaport Colony is too far north. Even the land boundary of the adjacent Federo Principality Colony is more than a hundred miles away from it. If it weren't for the fact that there is an excellent deep-water seaport. , maybe it will also become a colony abandoned by the United Kingdom of Fox Islands. Fortunately, this colony is rich in mineral resources, which effectively fills the mineral resource shortage of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands as an archipelago country.
For more than 100 years, Mount Guards Harbor Colony has been the largest mineral resource collector in the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands. They implement two systems here. One is slavery in the mountains and mines. They purchase slaves from other colonies or pirate gangs through various channels to work as mining slaves and mine mineral resources for the kingdom. Yamashita Seaport followed a normal colonial system, with towns established, governors appointed, and immigrants moved in...
To be honest, Mount Guards Harbor Colony should be the largest colony on the west coast of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands. However, because it is located at the northern end, it is very remote, and because it is surrounded by mountains and hills, it is not liked by immigrants from the United Kingdom of Fox Islands. In more than a hundred years, only two or three towns have been built around the harbor at the foot of the mountain, with less than 50,000 immigrants.
It was not until the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands decided to build the Mount Guards Seaport Colony into a military shipbuilding base that could produce ironclad warships that a large number of immigrants and their families arrived here, and shipbuilding workshops and laboratories began to be built. Because of the presence of four powerful sailing fleets at sea, the authorities of the Mount Guards Harbor Colony never dreamed of being attacked by pirates.
Then the Mount Guards Seaport Colony suffered a sudden attack by more than a dozen pirate gangs headed by the Black Sail Pirates. More than a hundred warships of a sailing fleet that had just arrived at the port to prepare for a carnival night were robbed and divided by the pirates. , that is, set on fire and burned to ashes. The United Kingdom of Fox Islands is inexplicably missing a sailing fleet.
Immediately afterwards, the Black Sail Pirates swept through the rest of the facilities in the harbor, including various mechanical equipment and military supplies in the warehouse, the metal shells of six ironclad battleships, shipbuilding experts and technicians recruited by the United Kingdom of Fox Islands, and several The rune mages all fell into the hands of the Black Sail Pirates. It can be said that the Black Sail Pirates returned from Mount Guards Harbor Colony with a full load...
Next, the remaining three sailing fleets of the Fox Islands United Kingdom went crazy around the world looking for the pirate forces that attacked them. It wasn't until one of their sailing fleets met the Black Sail Island in the Nubari Sea and fought a decisive naval battle that the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands found the culprit who attacked them.
Soon the iron-clad battleships of the Black Sail Pirates once again attacked the richest colony of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands in the middle of the west coast. They once again destroyed a sailing fleet and plundered coastal towns, letting the world understand that iron-clad battleships replaced sailing battleships. The trend is irreversible.
At this critical moment, instead of helping the United Kingdom of Fox Islands to deal with the Black Sail Pirates, the Kingdom of Camanlane and the Principality of Leriolo not only added insult to injury, one captured the colonies of the Kingdom of Resnia, and the other annexed the central part of the United Kingdom of Fox Islands. colony. Forcing the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands to ignore the Black Sails Pirates and turn around to deal with these two enemy countries first.
In this way, the United Kingdom of the Fox Islands forgot about the Mount Guards Seaport Colony that was attacked by the Black Sail Pirates. It was not until even the Opsaro City-State Alliance attacked the Port of Purcell Colony that they remembered that there was a Guards Mountain Harbor Colony. Hill Harbor Colony. But then it was discovered that at some point the Black Sail Pirates had counterattacked, and the Mount Weders Harbor Colony had fallen into the hands of the pirates...